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Artwork painted on former Reading prison confirmed as Banksy
An artwork painted onto the side of a former prison in Reading has been confirmed as a Banksy piece.
The street artist from Bristol confirmed that the artwork is his via Instagram.
Titled Create Escape, the artwork was confirmed in an almost three-minute-long behind the scenes clip.
is needed now More than ever
The creation of the mural, which depicts a convict escaping with a typewriter, is interspersed with video and voiceover of Bob Ross.
The site of the former prison is significant, having been the jail that held playwright and poet Oscar Wilde from 1895 to 1897.
The typewriter may be an ode to Wilde, who wrote Ballad of Reading Gaol following his release.
The ex-prison, which has been empty since 2013, may be sold for housing, but campaigners are calling for the site to be turned into an arts complex.
Celebrities including Natalie Dormer, Stephen Fry and Dame Judi Dench are backing the campaign.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMAHrGPFV2V/
Reading Borough Council suggest that Banksy’s latest artwork shows support for the campaign, telling the BBC: “We are thrilled that Banksy appears to have thrown his support behind the council’s desire to transform the vacant Reading Gaol into a beacon of arts, heritage and culture with this piece of artwork he has aptly called Create Escape.”
It’s the first piece from the elusive artist since Aachoo!, an artwork of an old lady sneezing, which was painted on the side of a house on Vale Street in Totterdown in December 2020.
“Painting, for me, represents freedom,” says Bob Ross over a clip of the new artwork. “I can create the kind of world that I want to see, and I want to be part of.”
Main photo: Banksy
Read more: Banksy’s Totterdown mural boarded up
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